Friday, August 8, 2008

OHWNT 080808: the rebirth. Also, upcoming Teiam Player gig

If my blog is still around at the next 080808, then mankind is doomed. Hell, if it makes it to 090909 I'll be surprised. And while I don't find this day to be particularly noteworthy, what better day would there be to be reborn? I mean, really.

So some or many or all or none of you may know I was out of the country for a while. Technically, since Guam is a US territory, I was in country, but it felt more like some place like.... Puerto Rico. Oh, wait-- that's Los EEUU as well. In Guam, five distinct languages can be heard on a regular basis: English, Chamorro [Guamanian], Japanese, Tagalog [Filipino], and Engrish [ya know, Engrish]. All the maps and tourist craps are in one or two languages, English and Japanese, but if only one then more often than not that one will be Japanese. It was a nice place. But this isn't a travel blog, or even a life blog really, so on with the show.

The only musical worth that trip had for me was that I heard the same six or seven songs over and over and over again. Some of those I still like, remarkably, but most [like Lolli Lolli, Lollipop, I Kissed a Girl].... notsomuch.

I also had one CD to listen to in my rental [a pimped out 2009 Toyota Corolla]-- my recent bloghouse/electro mixtape [which happened to be the topic of my last post]. I listened to that thing so much that two things happened: [1] I fell in love with most of it even more and [2] I found a few little things that bugged me so much that the first thing I did when I returned to the mainland was repair it. That can also be found at the same ol' link, which is right here in case you missed it the first times.

I have to say, that mix is pretty sweet and you should go listen to it [you can stream it!]. Straight up dance mix, the kind of set I'd be playing if I were playing a club. And of course since the man cannot be stopped, Teiam Player had to throw a few refizzes in there-- a blend featuring Heavy D & the Boyz, and some hip hop-apellas over other tracks.

ANYWAY, on with the new news....

TEIAM PLAYER @ Natt Spil 08/21! After fearing I may get bumped from the lineup because of reasons that aren't worth explaining, I am playing at the Spil on a night which has all the potential in the world to get a little crazy. Why? [a] it's a Thursday night [2] it's the day after my birfday! [d] I haven't been out in Madison for a while. Oh yeah, and like I always say, it's Natt Spil. So come down. There will be reminders closer to gameday.

Now onto the new musics. Here below are a few of those tunes I heard over and over and over while in Guam which I never got sick of. You've probably heard some on the radio, and others perhaps not. Anyway, I like these, and without shame.

Gavin DeGraw - In Love with a GirlFirst saw this video one morning getting ready for work, and then heard it on the radio and never got sick of it.Solange - I DecidedAlso first saw this on MTV as well, and loved it instantly. Never heard it on the radio but I see it's been blogged to death, with loads o'remixes, one or two of which are quite good.Estelle feat Kanye - American BoyThe first few times I heard this I never heard Kanye's verses, and the rest of it seemed pretty lackluster to me. Then I heard Kanye, and he tears it apart. Then I caught it on the radio a few times, always already halfway through the song, and I was always like "damn this is a good song, what is it?" and then I'd hear the chorus and then Kanye again and then I was always like "oh yeah, jeez". I hate it when I miss a song's potential the first time I hear it and it takes the radio or a club for me to like it.Jason Mraz - I'm YoursAgain, saw this video first, without even knowing who it was. Jason Mraz, like the early Jack Johnson stuff [only stuff I've heard], is very islandy, with a strong island music influence. So it was in a perfect setting in Guam. It's an island. It's islandy. It has perpetual summer. No breeze and it's muggier than a Buenos Aires alley. But it's still islandy. This song was all over that rock, too. I'm sure all the songsters at the bars in Hawaii are playing it on their ukeleles. Guam is pretty ukelele-less, too.

Ok, enough of all that overplayed [but good!] crap. Here's the overhyped [but still equally good!-- no, way better!] stuff. The mega-blogged stuff, as I'm sure it was the past few weeks. But I'm just now catching up and these guys are all rocking it.

Fleet Foxes - White Winter HymnalAWESOME song. Download it if you don't ardy have it.Grizzly Bear - While You Were Waiting for OthersThis song is nothing short of fucking amazing. Presumably a song from their next album, they played it for KCRW or KEXP. You will love this song, perhaps more than the Fleet Foxes song. I've played it about a dozen times in as many hours.Holly Golightly & the Broke-offs - Bottow BelowNever listened to them before, and never really cared to. And I don't think I like much of the rest of the album, but this song is real nice. And it's an opener, which I always love. Note: I'm still unsure if this song is sposedta be entitled "Bottom Below" or in fact "Bottow Below" like it says.The Dodos - JodyI've been rocking this album for a while, but somehow didn't have this track. And Holy Crap, they totally rock out on this. It's an epic seven minutes long, but they power through the whole thing and so will you.Santogold - IcarusThis Santogold track is on the recent Diplo // Santogold mixtape Top Ranking. I haven't listened to the whole thing yet but there is plenty of new Santi White [aka Santogold] material, and plenty of rerubs by Diplo, et al. This is one of the closing tracks.... EDIT: it is the closing track, with exception to the hidden track, which is a Bad Brains cover, apparently.

There were plenty of other tunes I planned on posting, but that just gives me the motivation to come back and write soon and for you to come back and read soon. I have like six or seven others I wanted to share but it's already going on 11pm and I really wanted to get this done [especially seeing as I started it like six hours ago, then went and had dinner and beers and beers and beers].